More Frequent Desperation Attacks

I didn't see a thread dedicated to this, so since I taught myself I thought I'd share how to make it happen.

Code:

C2/15C8: C0 08        CPY #$08
C2/15CA: B0 44        BCS $1610   (No DA if monster)
C2/15CC: AD 3F 3A     LDA $3A3F
C2/15CF: C9 03        CMP #$03    
C2/15D1: 90 3D        BCC $1610   (No DA if time counter is 767 or less)
C2/15D3: B9 E5 3E     LDA $3EE5,Y
C2/15D6: 89 02        BIT #$02
C2/15D8: F0 36        BEQ $1610   (No DA If not Near Fatal)
C2/15DA: 89 24        BIT #$24
C2/15DC: D0 32        BNE $1610   (No DA If Muddled or Image)
C2/15DE: B9 E4 3E     LDA $3EE4,Y
C2/15E1: 89 12        BIT #$12    
C2/15E3: D0 2B        BNE $1610   (No DA If Clear or Zombie)
C2/15E5: A5 B9        LDA $B9
C2/15E7: F0 27        BEQ $1610   (No DA if $B9 = 0)
C2/15E9: 20 5A 4B     JSR $4B5A   (Random number 0 to 255)
C2/15EC: 29 0F        AND #$0F    (0 to 15)
C2/15EE: D0 20        BNE $1610   (1 in 16 chance for DA)
C2/15F0: B9 18 30     LDA $3018,Y
C2/15F3: 0C 2F 3F     TSB $3F2F
C2/15F6: D0 18        BNE $1610   (No DA if this character already used it this combat)

NOPing out C2/15D1 with EA will remove the timer check so DAs can happen any time. Doing it to C2/15D8 will let DAs happen regardless of Near Fatal. NOPing out the other checks for Muddle/Image and Clear/Zombie did NOT work for me, but then I wouldn't want to remove those checks anyway.

But I'll wager the main interest most have is C2/15EC, which is what creates that 1/16 chance of a DA triggering. Changing the 0F to a lower value will lower the RNG's range and thus increase the likelihood of DAs. I've tested with 01 (1/2), 02 (1/3), 03 (1/4) and 07 (1/8) and all seem to work appropriately. It's hard to judge since it's random, duh, but with 01 and 02, almost every attack became a DA, whereas with 03 it was more uncommon and 07, it took several rounds but they did trigger.

Related to this since it is also of interest to DAs- the Near Fatal coding.

Code:

C2/4536: B9 1C 3C     LDA $3C1C,Y  (Max HP)
C2/4539: 4A           LSR
C2/453A: 4A           LSR
C2/453B: 4A           LSR          (Divide by 8)
C2/453C: D9 F4 3B     CMP $3BF4,Y  (Current HP)

Those 4As are the divisions, EA out one to make Near Fatal kick in at 1/4 HP, or two to make it happen at 1/2. This will also affect the True Knight coding, if you care about that, but iirc only DAs and True Knight care about Near Fatal.

EDIT - Now in patch form! The downloadable Zip contains two patches - "More Frequent DAs" just increases the odds of them happening from 1/16 to 1/8. "Less Restrictive DAs" does that, removes the timer check, changes Near Fatal to kick in at 1/4 HP rather than 1/8, and also removes the check if a character has already used a DA, letting the same character use their DA multiple times each battle.

https://www.mediafire.com/file/8qsfmqhxv...s.zip/file